Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas

I find Sarah J. Maas’ work solidly enjoyable in the way I used to find fanfiction enjoyable (or still would, if I read much of it). It’s wish fulfilment — the beautiful, utterly capable assassin who has her pick of love interests; the decadent surroundings; even the books she has access to and the friends she makes. Let’s not forget that she’s also an accomplished musician, dancer, etc, etc. And that’s great. I enjoy reading this series, and I enjoy the whole idea of Celaena and the fact that she exists.

I’ve never really understood people who expected great literary merit from these books, or even a consistent approach to who Celaena wants to date, sleep with or throw off a cliff. I was alerted to that pretty early on in the instant switches between Chaol and Dorian, and from knowing that neither of those appears to be her ultimate love interest. (Sorry, Chaol fans. But it’s true.)

It’s fairly typical fantasy, with a kickass heroine, magic, Fae, a bit of mystery, a wicked king… It’s fun because it’s pretty unashamed about being that. I know people didn’t enjoy the latest book as much as they hoped, but me… I’m not getting my hopes up. I’ll just enjoy whatever Maas serves up — and stop if it takes a turn I dislike. Same as I would a fanfic.

Before anyone protests, this isn’t about disparaging Maas’ writing. There are some amazingly well-written fanfics and some amazingly badly written original novels. But the feeling of energy and creativity and fun I get is one I associate more with writing for fandom.

Rating: 3/5

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas

I originally received this to review, but I bought a copy in the end anyway. I was actually a little bit nervous about doing so, as Throne of Glass didn’t wow me the way it did so many other people, but in fact I liked this even more. The writing style is slightly more mature — as is the romance content, actually, but that doesn’t matter much to me — and it engages with fairytales/folktales I love. There’s a bit of Beauty and the Beast (with some of the now-traditional elements like the library making an appearance in a slightly different way), a bit of Tam Lin, some fae lore in general, and something that’s just for this book. I enjoyed the way it pulled in those elements, made those references, but made its own story.

Every time I thought I’d figured out what I thought about a character, there’d be another aspect revealed: Alis’ forthrightness, Lucien’s slow coming to terms with Feyre’s presence, Rhysand’s character… it was very satisfying to have the characters developing/changing/growing all the way through.

Feyre herself is really cool. She’s capable, strong, but only because she has to be. She taught herself to hunt, to swim, to protect her family. She’s not Celaena 2.0; she has different interests, a whole different focus. I enjoyed that the book was pretty sex-positive and reasonable about that kind of thing: no random fits of horrible jealousy over things which don’t mean that much, no implication that all previous relationships were wrong…

I’m not sure what I hope for with other books. I’d like to see how Elain and Nesta are getting on; I’d like to see how Feyre goes forward from the end of this book; I’d be equally happy following Rhysand or Lucien… I’m looking forward to it, regardless — and that little bit more eager to get onto reading Crown of Midnight, too.

Rating: 4/5